More than 4,000 young lives are lost each year to sudden arrhythmia death syndromes (SADS) in the United States alone. The death of a young person is a tragedy that strikes not just the immediate family, but an entire community, which is why the SADS Foundation was established. Our mission is to save the lives and support the families of children and young adults who are genetically predisposed to sudden death due to heart rhythm abnormalities. In addition to family support, SADS works to increase patient participation in research and actively advocates for patients enrolled in academic research programs.

As the only advocacy organization devoted to channelopathies, the SADS Foundation supports research by serving as the critical link between patients, healthcare providers, and researchers:

The SADS Foundation supports research in the following ways:

Our database of more than 10,000 individuals allows us to connect our families with research.Academic researchers and companies in biotech, drug development, and genetics count on us to find patients to participate in their studies to find new genetic mutations, determine who most is at risk for a sudden cardiac arrest, and to develop new treatments. The SADS Foundation always “vets” these research studies before promoting them, in order to protect the interests of our families.

Our disease-specific communities can identify previously unrecognized questions for researchers. Most physicians have only a few SADS patients, which makes it difficult for them to identify those questions for research that may lead to diagnostic, management or treatment breakthroughs. Our families provide us with information, insights, and questions that can lead to new research questions, which benefit the researchers, our families, and the healthcare providers who care for them.

Instant results are not guaranteed by donating a large amount of money or by any one particular study or researcher. But beneficial steps towards living longer, living better, and finding a cure will continue to emerge with the joint collaboration of the SADS Foundation, SADS families, their healthcare providers, and researchers.